


AVRA

by Zeible



Series: AVRA Series [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Anti-Faunus Racism (RWBY), Beacon Academy, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Gen, Original Character-centric, POV Female Character, Prequel, Trans Character, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-04-05 03:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19039933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zeible/pseuds/Zeible
Summary: Ten years before the formation of Team RWBY, an unlikely team came together at Beacon Academy. By fate or simple luck, they all had two things in common; they were all Faunus, and all former criminals!





	1. Arrival at Beacon

_Whirrrrrrrrrr_

    Aquila groaned, sitting by herself in the air transport to Beacon. She hated these noisy things, and she hated being crammed inside them for two hours even more. The young woman was sitting alone trying to read a book on her Scroll, but kept finding it impossible to focus while the damned machine was making such a racket. Aside from her Scroll she just had the clothes on her back- a long black long coat and a set of clothes suited to a wilderness expedition- and her weapon, Jackdaw, sitting in dual-pistol form at her sides. She looked around at the other students-to-be; most were sitting and talking with whoever they had come with. Some had congregated into larger groups and were chatting away happily. One thing that she noticed though was quite clear.

 

    Few of them were Faunus. It was to be expected- Humans far outnumbered her kind, and there just weren’t many Faunus that made it to Beacon. Vale wasn’t like Vacuo, where a Faunus could be expected to rise to the top as easily as a Human; this was the Kingdom where no matter _how_ enlightened its Headmaster apparently was, a Faunus had to face twice the obstacles a Human did to get into Beacon. She grimaced, remembering the rather unorthodox way _she’d_ been able to get in.

 

    _If I ever see that dusty, half-drunk crow again I don’t know if I’m going to thank him or try to kill him…_

 

    Aquila laughed quietly to herself, and shook the thought off. She needed some company- she couldn’t spend all her time alone here, and she hardly wanted to. She stood up and looked around; most of the people here looked to have already found people to talk to, and it was hard to gauge which among the solo people were isolated by luck like her, or just introverted. She quickly passed over an aloof-looking Human fellow in a grey suit, he did NOT look like he was going to be any fun to talk to. Briefly she noticed a guy with an odd-looking mask, but decided against approaching him. Interesting as his life story was bound to be, he was probably _not_ going to be ideal company. There was, she noticed, also another Faunus- but he was surprisingly already striking up a conversation with some Humans and evidently doing very well. She was impressed, not least because his Faunus trait was an elephant’s proboscis where a Human’s nose would sit.

 

    She decided instead to sit next to a shy-looking girl in a smart-looking black outfit with a lavender scarf around her neck. Aquila couldn’t tell if she was Human or Faunus; she _looked_ Human, but she got a very odd vibe from her that made her unsure. The girl was closely clutching her bag, and seemed to have her weapon at her side; a deceptively simple-looking dagger in a scabbard. Aquila doubted it was actually just a plain dagger, though; nobody going to Beacon would carry something so basic.

   

    “Hey, mind if I sit here?” Aquila asked brightly, smiling as she did so.

 

    The girl looked at her, a bit surprised but nodded. “Sure.”

 

    Aquila took her seat. “So, you excited to be going to Beacon?” She wasn’t normally one for small talk, but by the God of Darkness _something_ had to be better than just sitting there.

 

    The girl shrugged. “I mean...yes. I am. I’m just not feeling sure about it all yet.”

 

    “Why not? You made it in! That means you’ve got what it takes to be a Huntress.”

 

    The girl looked at her and offered a weak smile. Aquila finally noticed that she had some beautiful violet eyes.

 

    Aquila extended her hand. “My name’s Aquila Pernigra, I’m from central Sanus.”

 

The girl took her hand gingerly and shook it. She was a bit cold to the touch. “I’m Regina Adder. I’m from Vale.”

 

“Where in Vale are you from? It’s a big Kingdom.” Aquila was a bit intrigued now. There was just something about this girl that was _very_ interesting.

 

_Or maybe you just think she’s cute…_ She reminded herself, noting that the girl- handsome face, short boyish hair, beautiful eyes, androgynous fashion sense- was definitely easy on the eyes. But it was something more than that that was catching her attention at the moment.

 

“South Central…” The girl looked a bit ashamed at that, and was hanging her head a bit lower. It was also now that Aquila was noting something about how she spoke; her S’s were a bit...odd.

 

“Rough part of Vale, but nothing to be embarrassed about. Did you go to Signal first or did you just test in?”

 

Regina looked at Aquila a bit more curiously this time. “You first.”

 

She smiled at that. _Good, she’s starting to open up a bit._ “I was...busy up until a few months ago. I tested in.”

 

The girl quirked her head at that. “You look like you can handle yourself a bit better than I do. Going by your clothes, and your equipment...and your Aura.”

 

Now _that_ was interesting. “How do you know what my Aura looks like?”

 

The girl finally smiled; a clever, wry little grin that bared her teeth. In the process, Aquila could finally see clearly what had been causing the girl’s mild speech impediment; a pair of snake fangs. Regina was a Faunus, like her.

 

“I can see Aura. It’s my Semblance; I’ve been able to do it ever since I first really trained my own Aura. I can see other people’s Auras through solid objects, through long distances. And when you can see someone’s Aura, you can see their Semblance- though it’s not always obvious. Yours is...I can’t quite tell. Looks passive, though.”

 

Aquila nodded. “Your perceptive. It is passive, and not one I’m overly fond of.”

 

“What is it?” Regina asked, looking curiously at the other girl.

 

Aquila waved a hand dismissively. “Not worth getting into. Suffice to say, it’s useful but frustrating to the highest degree.”

 

The ship’s intercom pinged. A hologram flickered, and the image of a woman presented herself; fit, blonde, and done up in an outfit that made Aquila feel like it was impolite to stare at her. She recognized her from an earlier description; this was the same woman that drunken bastard had been going on about.

 

_‘Glynda Dominatritch. Or something like that, I forget. She wasn’t teaching yet when I was a student there. Watch out for her- she’s stricter than she looks.’_

 

_‘Didn’t you say she was always carrying a riding crop?’_ Aquila had asked.

 

_‘I did. And she is.’_

 

“Good morning, students. I am Professor Glynda Goodwitch, and I will be greeting you when the transport lands. I know all of you are likely feeling very nervous, given the enormous honor that’s been placed on you. Don’t let anxiety overwhelm you, though; Beacon is a welcoming and pleasant place, though certainly not for the faint-hearted. Here you will be trained in the art of the Hunter, and earn your place in history as defenders of the people of Remnant.”

 

There was a brief pause and some murmuring among the students as they watched the hologram adjust her glasses, then continue.

 

“I want to let you know from the outset that Beacon is a place where _all_ students are welcome. We will accept no intolerance here on the basis of creed, place of origin, gender, or species.”

 

One of the students snorted- a Human woman with violet hair so dark it was almost black. She was tall and haughty-looking, and carried an enormous sword at her side. Her clothes were ridiculously opulent-looking, yet genuinely beautifully designed rather than the sloppy crap most rich people wore. Someone had paid a _damned_ good tailor for this girl.

 

“With all that said, I hope you will all have a wonderful first day here at Beacon! I’ll be greeting you when you land- expect today to be a relaxing one as we get ready to sort you into teams tomorrow. As a reminder, the process is random, so don’t get too hung up on picking friends or family.”

 

Aquila and Regina looked at each other uncertainly, then shrugged in unison. Truth be told, Aquila wasn’t too hung up on that; she made friends easily. She just didn’t want to be paired with some bigoted Humans. Maybe she could find a way around the randomization- but that depended on _how_ it was done. If it was lots, she was up a certain creek without a certain instrument. If it was something more _romantic_ , however….

 

She put the thought aside for the time being, and decided to focus on the now. The ship was about to land at Beacon, and there things would actually get started. For now, it made sense to stick with Regina. Even if they weren’t on the same team, they’d at least be in the same grade, so it’d be good to get to know her.

 

“Come on,” Aquila said, motioning to the front of the ship. “We’ll be hopping off soon.”

 

Regina looked a bit pleasantly surprised at that, and followed the other girl as they made their way to the front of the growing crowd around the exit door. A minute later, most of the other students had made their way around them. Aquila didn’t know what to make of the crowd; a few other Faunus- one who looked to be about seven feet tall and completely covered in dark brown fur- and some more pretentious-looking Humans. To her chagrin, that girl with the violet hair was standing next to her. Even worse, she began to make conversation.

 

    “Get a load of that...thing,” she said, leaning in and whispering conspiratorially to Aquila a she motioned discretely towards the hair-covered Faunus, “Can you believe they’d let it into school?”

 

    “They let _you_ in, didn’t they?” Aquila shot back. She knew this was burning a bridge rather quickly, but it was probably best to get that sort of thing over with before long.

 

    The girl audibly gasped at gaped at Aquila, looking astonished. “ _Excuse_ me? Do you know who you’re talking to?”

 

    Aquila turned to look at the other girl, annoyed that now the entire crowd was clearly looking at them. “No. I suppose that means you’re going to introduce yourself?”

 

    The girl narrowed her pinkish-purplish eyes at that. “For your _information_ , I am Mauve Imperatrice, a direct descendent of the last King of Vale and the latest in a _long_ line in my family to attend Beacon Academy! I have been trained by some of the finest Hunters in Remnant and-”

 

    The rest of her speech was cut off by the sound of the doors opening, and an inrush of air. Grateful to have an excuse to walk away, Aquila headed down the extended ramp with a nervous Regina following behind her. At the base of the ramp the woman they had seen in the hologram, Glynda, was writing on a clipboard and taking note of the students.

 

    “Welcome, students. I’m glad to see nobody killed each other on the ride over.”

 

    “Near enough to it…” Somebody murmured; Aquila noted it was some boy she hadn’t seen before. He was well-built, average height, and had a brown longcoat not unlike her own. At his side was a plain-looking and weathered shotgun- but it had the distinctive markings of mecha additions to it. His face was probably handsome, and astonishingly he already had a fair amount of stubble on his face, and a couple scars across his forehead. Barely noticeable beneath his mop of dirty blonde hair were a pair of little pointy ears of some beast she did not recognize. Another Faunus, though she could see why she’d missed this one before.

 

    Glynda seemed to ignore the comment. “Good. Now just so you are all aware, you’re expected to be at the Main Hall in an hour. There you’ll be given an introductory speech by Headmaster Ozpin, and given the basics on the upcoming initiation ceremony. You’ll have a day to get to know each other a bit and become familiar with the grounds before you’re divided into teams tomorrow. Understood?”

 

    There were some murmurs and some ‘Yes ma’ams’, and Glynda seemed satisfied.

 

    “I’ll see you all later.” She headed off without another word, leaving the students to chat and disperse. Aquila was a bit put out at all the waiting, seemed pretty pointless to make them spend so much time milling about before they could get sorted into teams. She looked around, and saw that Regina wasn’t heading anywhere. Well at least they’d be able to stick together for now. She approached the other girl who seemed a bit relieved Aquila was sticking around, but before she could say anything someone tapped her on the shoulder.

 

    “Excuse me,” a melodic voice said, “I think you dropped this?”

 

    Aquila spun around, and saw that standing behind her was a fair-skinned boy with silver-colored hair and eyes to match, grinning wolfishly and holding a Scroll. He was dressed almost absurdly well; with a nice all-grey tux. At his side was a sheathed katana, and behind him she could faintly see a gently wagging wolf’s tail. Another Faunus, yet she hadn’t noticed it before. In fact she wasn’t sure she’d seen _him_ on the ride over.

 

    “Thanks,” Aquila said suspiciously, taking the Scroll. She couldn’t think of a moment where she’d’ve dropped it, and had a pretty clear idea how it had gone missing. “And thank you for returning it. It’s not nice to borrow things that aren’t yours.”

 

    He looked taken aback- _faux_ taken aback, more like. “Why, madame, what are you insinuating?”

 

    “That you stole my Scroll and are giving it back to me as an excuse to look gallant?”

 

    He grinned, far more wolfishly than before, and she noted his tail was wagging more excitedly than before. “That’s an interesting idea! Suppose I did, what then?”

 

    “I’d say,” she said, her voice droll as possible, “That you would be barking up the wrong tree. If you’ll forgive the expression.”

    The tail wagging slowed, and he nodded- clearly trying to hide his embarrassment. “Oh. Well it’s a good thing I didn’t start barking, so to speak.”

 

    Aquila rolled her eyes. “Don’t do it again, Mr...?”

 

    “Remus. _Argent_ Remus.” He bowed a bit theatrically. “I’m here at Beacon to be trained as a Huntsman. I don’t suppose you’re just here for fun, yourself, Ms...?”

 

    “Aquila Pernigra, and nope,” she said, her irritation giving way to a bit of amusement. “Not entirely here by choice, but it’s not the worst thing that could’ve happened.”

 

    He seemed intrigued by that, but finally seemed to notice that Regina was standing right next to Aquila, and looking rather more annoyed than the other girl was. “Oh, and where are my manners- what’s your name?”

 

    Regina just narrowed her eyes at him. “Regina Adder. Also the wrong tree for you, I think.”

 

    _Wait WHAT?_ Aquila thought to herself.

 

    “Ah, my bad luck, but possibly your fortune! Mind if I accompany you two to the Main Hall? I don’t have anyone to go with myself, and I’d rather stick with a pack. I’d be a bit lonely otherwise.”

 

    “Just don’t keep flirting with us, please?” Regina let out with a sigh of sheer exasperation.

 

    “Oh don’t worry about that; I know when I’m unwanted.” With that, he stepped a bit behind and to the side of the girls, and they proceeded in semi-companionable silence. Aquila was trying to process what had just happened.

 

    _So, he’s a thief and another Faunus, and I’m ok with him just sticking around. I mean I AM okay with him just sticking around. He seems alright, a bit shifty and smarmy but I could work with him...maybe._

 

    Truthfully, she was more preoccupied with Regina’s comment...and REALLY hoped they had both meant the same thing by it.

 

As the trio had nearly made their way towards the main hall, Regina stopped suddenly and made a sweeping gesture. “Wait. Why are we going right to the main hall? We have _an hour_ before it starts. We could be doing anything right now.”

 

The other two paused, and briefly Aquila and Argent exchanged glances. The token boy shrugged. “I could go for it,” he said, “Might be useful to case the place. Eh, _explore_ the place, I mean.”

 

“Riiiiiight,” Aquila said, chuckling softly, “Well, it certainly is a better use of our time than just waiting around. I suppose we could go about and do something, but where to?”

 

“Well,” Regina said, looking around until her eyes settled on something, “We could check out this map!” She motioned over to a map sitting by the side of the pathway to the building. Passing a couple students heading to the main hall, Regina led the other two to the map.

 

“Hmmm,” said Argent, looking it over, “Not much to do around here if you aren't a student. A lot of dorms of course, some classrooms, some shops....”

 

“And a practice field,” Aquila said, grinning a bit and pointing to a particular spot on the map, “I’d love the chance to stretch before some long speech by an old man. Do you think we could get there, do some practice, and make it back before the speech starts up?”

 

Regina nodded and beamed. “Yeah, it’s not that far! I’d love the chance to test out Venom before we get started.”

 

“Then it’s decided,” Argent said beginning on the path towards the practice grounds, “Let’s hurry ladies, don’t want to risk being late for Professor Ozpin’s speech!”

 

The three of them hurried for the practice fields halfway across campus.

   

   


	2. A Grimm Situation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our Faunus protagonists are all united at last against a field of rampaging Grimm.

“So, what did you do before coming to Beacon?” Aquila asked, as they made their way towards the practice fields.

  

Argent responded first. “Well, I was just living with my parents most of this time. Started attending Signal like most prospective Huntsmen, and got some top marks before graduating.”

  

“Really? Huh. What’s it like there?” Regina asked curiously, in between strides.

   

    He shrugged. “It’s alright. Very basic stuff to be honest- I’d already gotten my Semblance unlocked on my own time, and since that’s half the combat training a lot of it was time wasted for me. Still, I had a good combat instructor; odd, but definitely good.”

   

Aquila was about to ask what exactly he meant by odd, when they arrived at the practice field. All three of them stopped in their tracks and stared in shock at it; there wasn’t anything particularly wrong with it, of course. It was a perfectly good field in most every way- real grass on it, not some artificial dust-produced substance. There were scores of relatively comfortable seats to watch events from, and the lights arranged looked like they’d keep the place well illuminated at night. Most interestingly, they could see that there were some interesting obstacles set up- clearly, the place was geared for a variety of types of practice combat.

   

No, the reason they had all stopped to stare was because the place was swarming with Grimm. Not just a handful either; about two dozen Beowolves, a dozen Boarbatusks, two Ursa, two Nevermores, and one very angry looking Beringel. The lot of them were mostly milling about at the moment, but some of them seemed to be looking in the direction of the rest of the campus. Most concerningly, the Beringel was headed in _their_ direction.

 

“So,” Aquila said, her voice calm as a frozen lake, “We have a bit of a problem here.”

 

“It would uh...seem so.” Said Argent, whose voice by contrast sounded more like he was having trouble not bolting then and there.

 

Regina was silent, for her part, and she was nervously clutching at the dagger at her side. Her face had gone pale, and Aquila could tell she was having trouble not running away.

 

Aquila set her hand on the other girl’s shoulder, and tried to meet her frightened and confused gaze with one of reassurance. Regina seemed to calm a bit, so it worked to some extent.

 

“Alright look,” said Aquila to the other two students, “There’s no teachers in sight, no official Hunters. If we run now, these things are going to pursue us anyway, and probably wreck a good chunk of the school and maybe even kill some civilian staff. Worse, they might just escape and head down into Vale proper. Neither of these are things we want, right?”

 

Argent and Regina looked at one another briefly, then turned back to Aquila and nodded.

 

“Okay,” said Aquila, not waiting for a verbal response, “So the options are fight these things, or run. You two are free to do what you want, but I am going to deal with those Nevermores.”

 

“Wait, what?” Regina said, grabbing Aquila by the shoulder, “You can’t fight two Nevermores on your own! How’re you even going to hit them with those pistols?”

 

Aquila switched Jackdaw from dual-pistol mode to dual-cutlass mode, and Regina’s eyes went wide incredulously. Argent just cocked his head like a curious dog, seeming more relaxed than before. He had drawn something out of his cane- a katana- and was wielding the rest of the cane like an offhand weapon.

 

“Ok then, how are you going to hit them _with a melee weapon_?”

 

The golden-eyed girl just smiled, and threw off her longcoat...revealing a pair of feathered, black wings. She took off without another word, heading off for the two Nevermores.

 

“If you two want to help, go ahead, I won’t complain!” She shouted back to her astonished classmates, “If you don’t...I won’t complain then, either.”

 

Presumably taking this as a challenge, Regina pulled out her Dagger and switched it to a Revolver- then loaded up its chambers with six different dust crystals. She spun the chamber for effect, and ran towards the oncoming Beringel. Argent did likewise, taking a more circuitous path in the seeming understanding that he and his fellow terrestrial Faunus were going to flank the ape-like Grimm. The beast roared and leapt towards Regina- who nimbly dodged out of the way and hit the Beringel in the back rapid-fire with a succession of ice and fire dust rounds, which caused an explosion of steam and caused the beast to roar in pain. With this distraction, Argent ran around the other side and slashed repeatedly at the beast’s belly with his katana, then quickly changed it to a pistol and took shots into the Grimm’s gaping maw.

 

The beast screamed at Argent and brought its might fist down on the silver-haired Faunus- but to no avail, as it passed through him harmlessly and he let out a laugh. He then danced to the side and, becoming tangible again, fired in a row down the beast’s left arm. Regina took the chance to switch her gun back to dagger mode, and slashed in rapid succession- ice to build up water, lightning to split it into its flammable components, and then fire to set it ablaze.

Dodging out of the way of the ensuing explosion, Regina looked on with satisfaction as the Beringel nearly keeled over- a keeling Argent took as his chance to switch his weapon once more back to its bladed mode and with one mighty slash took the Grimm’s head off.

 

With the other two reduced the Beringel to an evaporating pile of dark dust, Aquila took flight towards the two Nevermores. The gigantic flying Grimm took note of her approach and screeched at her before flying quickly in her direction. With a cutlass in each hand, Aquila effortlessly flew in a loop to evade their oncoming strikes- and as she did so, repeatedly slashed at each Grimm in the wing. The two beasts screeched in pain, and quickly tried to spin around to pursue her. Before they had the chance to do so, Aquila immediately dive-bombed beneath them and allowed herself to freefall, switching Jackdaw to its harpoon gun mode as she did so. With the two Nevermores luckily lined up right above her, she let loose her harpoon. Her aim proved true, and her harpoon impaled both Grimm straight through the chest- causing them to shriek horrifically in pain. Before they had a chance to even _try_ to break free and before the connecting cord went taught, Aquila pulled down _hard_ with Jackdaw. The resulting whiplash sent the two Grimm plummeting straight to the ground- and before she could be pulled along with them, Aquila ejected the harpoon and switched Jackdaw back to dual-pistol mode. As the two Nevermore plummeted to the ground out of control- towards a small pack of very confused-looking Beowolves, no less- Aquila fired relentlessly on them. The Grimm caused an explosion of dirt and Grimm dust as they hit the ground and crushed three or four Beowolves beneath them, and began to crumble to dust themselves. That done, Aquila switched focus to the remaining Beowolves- and began blasting at them with Jackdaw. One by one with carefully aimed (or just plain lucky) headshots, she tore them apart, until half the Beowolves that had been there when they started were gone. Sensing that the Ursai were likely to be a big problem if they ran around the battlefield, Aquila switched focus to keeping them busy- and started doing irritating flyby attacks while blasting them repeatedly.

 

Not far off, Regina was staring, mouth agape at what Aquila had just done, nearly distracting her from an oncoming Boarbatusk. She and Argent had split to handle different parts of the pack- Argent taking on the Beowolves (“We’re like cousins, it’ll be fine.”) and she the Boarbatusks. She wasn’t handling it well, and was mostly trying to take shots with fire rounds at their vulnerable undersides. The beasts were too fast for her, and dealing with just one would’ve been hard enough on her own. Dealing with _three_ felt more like suicide. Switching tactics, she swapped over to ice rounds to freeze them- but felt her heart skip a beat when the characteristic _click_ of an empty chamber was heard instead. She fumbled to reload- and was hit _hard_ by an angry Boarbatusk from behind. Sent flying by the blast, Regina skidded to the ground a few feet away, violet aura flickering around her.

 

“Help!” She cried out, not really knowing what else to do. The three Boarbatusks were now charging in on her from all three directions, and she struggled to reload Venom with ice crystals. It seemed like she was about to have her Aura shattered and be immediately be impaled by all three Grimm-

 

-When out of NOWHERE a tall figure with two furry ears peeking out from his dirty blonde hair seemed to leap from the sky to land right in front of her. He was tall, and wearing a brown longcoat. She’d seen him before- he was on the airship ride in. The boy pulled out his shotgun, and cocked it perhaps a bit over-dramatically. With surprising adroitness for someone with his bulky build, he spun around rapidly and blasted two of the Boarbatusks backward, shattering them into smoky dust. Before the last one could close the gap, he hit some switch on his shotgun and it switched form to a roaring chainsaw- and he brought the spinning blade down on the Grimm, bifurcating it right down the middle.

 

The boy spun around and offered his hand. “Need a lift, Sheila?”

 

Regina was too relieved to correct him, and gladly accepted. “Thank you...wait, what are _you_ doing here? You weren’t following us to this place, were you?”

 

He shrugged, and pointed up at Aquila- who was now flying around laughing madly as she took potshots at one of the Ursai, which was swatting uselessly up at her- and smiled. “She draws a lot of attention. Name’s Victor Vombatus, by the way. I’m from Menagerie.”

 

While that definitely piqued her interest, Regina knew they had better things to be focusing on right now. The two of them wordlessly swapped their weapons back to ranged mode and started mowing down the remaining Boarbatusks, which had previously been circling Regina while the now-dead three were pummeling her. Focusing on disabling them with ice with Venom so Victor could take them down with devastating shotgun blasts, the two made short work of the Grimm.

 

That left only the remaining dozen-or-so Beowolves and the two Ursai. For the former, Argent was apparently trying his damndest to be as irritating as possible. He was running rings around them with impressive speed while unleashing a hail of bullets with his weapon at them. He’d taken a few down this way, but was starting to show his exhaustion. Panting, he finally stopped running and even put his gun back in its holster. Sensing opportunity, three of the Beowolves charged at him-

 

-and were blindsided when Argent grinned wolfishly, switching his weapon back to katana mode and pulling it out of its scabbard with one fluid swipe, slashing all of the incoming Beowolves across the faces and causing them to crumble. The other surviving Grimm stood back a bit cautiously, before all charging in at once almost in a line. Smirking as he did so, Argent took slashes at each of them as they came in- and reduced the remaining Beowolves to dust with a few well-placed sword strikes.

 

That left only the two Ursai, one of whom was still scrambling to try and catch Aquila, and the other was now tangling with Victor. For his part, the fur-eared Faunus was holding his own impressively well, alternating between deflecting claws with his chainsaw and swiping at it directly. He took more steps forward than he did backwards, and forced the Ursa into a slow retreat as it desperately clawed at him. Out of frustration, the Grimm leapt at Victor- who ducked, and swung his chainsaw in an upward arc across the Ursa’s underbelly, cutting it wide open and letting the black smoke within spill out. The Grimm roared in pain and fell to the ground behind Victor, collapsing into smoke and dust.

 

The one remaining Ursa, seeing that it was now all alone, abandoned its pursuit of the untouchable Aquila and charged for the vulnerable-looking Regina, who was catching her breath after clearing the last of the Boarbatusks. This however was an opportunity Aquila had been waiting for- she swapped Jackdaw back to dual-cutlass mode and flew towards the Ursa in a divebomb, swiping with both swords at once directly at the beast’s neck- and severed the Grimm’s head from its shoulders before it could even reach Regina.

 

The last Grimm dispatched, the four Faunus gathered together around Regina. Argent was eyeing Victor a bit suspiciously, but Aquila welcomed his presence.

 

“Thanks, friend. I don’t know if we could’ve pulled that off without you.”

 

He smiled sheepishly and waved a hand dismissively. “Nah, you had that. I mean did you _see_ how you took out those Nevermores?”

 

Aquila chuckled warmly. “Ahh, that sort of thing’s easy when you’re as lucky as I am. I’m no better a fighter than any of the rest of you, just more fortunate.”

 

Regina stood up and dusted herself off. “That’s crazy. You just killed two Nevermores and an Ursa like it was nothing, and you’re acting like you just got lucky?”

 

Before Aquila could respond, all four of them snapped their attention to a sudden shout.

 

“DON’T MOVE!” A loud, angry voice called out. It came from an adult human man standing not far away from them, evidently having seen the commotion from a distance and arrived at the field shortly after they finished off the last Grimm. He was tall, reedy-looking and possibly handsome by someone’s standard- but Aquila thought he looked more like a villain from some old melodrama than a teacher, or whatever he was. He was dressed in a black suit jacket, slacks, shiny leather shoes, and white undershirt. It was the kind of look Aquila appreciated on a woman, at least. His eyes were emerald green and narrowed in anger, and his teeth were bared in a snarl.

“What are you four… _individuals_ doing here?” His voice was cold and full of barely-controlled rage.

 

Victor stepped forward. “We were dealing with some Grimm on the field, didn’t really see time to call for help or anything.”

 

The man looked like he wanted to _spit_ , but was trying to hold it back. “Oh, so these Grimm were just _accidentally_ here? Not deliberately summoned, hmm?”

 

The four Faunus looked at each other in confusion, then back at him. “Uh, no?” Offered Regina, letting her confusion show.

 

The man seemed to notice something about her he disliked, and gritted his teeth. “So I’m to believe four Faunus- _students_ I _hope_ \- just happened to be in the area and saw that some Grimm had magically appeared in this field and fought them.” He stepped forward slowly, and gripped at a truncheon at his side. “Rather than the rather more _simple_ explanation that I am looking at four hooligans who sneaked their way onto Beacon’s campus to have fun messing with some of our Grimm on a dare or out of some primal thrill-seeking desire?”

 

While the others were mostly cowering at this obviously-enraged teacher, Aquila took particular umbrage at what he was insinuating, and her anger trumped her fear any day.

 

“Look here, whoever you are. We’re students of Beacon Academy, and it’s our first bloody day. You’re not going to ruin it for us just because you don’t like that Humans didn’t kill all of us in the Great fucking War!”

 

The man let out a scream of fury and swiped at Aquila with his truncheon- but she dodged it without even trying. The man was no novice to combat however, and swung around- Aquila ducked this time, but he still clipped her wing and she grunted in pain. Reflexively, she swatted him away from her with one of her wings and clearly hit something hard- probably his jaw. The man fell backwards, but regained his footing. By that point, Aquila had spun around and drawn Jackdaw, ready to fight-

 

“Professor Iago!” A bright, clear, and _commanding_ voice called out. The fighters stopped and turned to look; there standing a few feet away from them was a man in a black suit with a green scarf, and a messy mop of white hair. He was wearing a pair of crooked-looking spectacles, leaning on a cane and sipping from a mug of hot cocoa. His own green eyes met Iago’s in a stare of icy fury.

 

“Headmaster, these Faunus were clearly using our training system illegally and destroyed some of the Grimm that we spent _months_ stockpiling for our new students!” He was stepping towards the other man, who simply held up his cane and pointed it at Aquila and the others. 

 

“I’d like to speak with you four. Professor Iago, go back to the main hall and speak nothing of this to anyone, but tell Glynda I may be delayed and if I am to wait on the ceremonies until I arrive. I will get to the bottom of this myself.”

 

The black-haired man was sputtering in rage, but calmed himself and nodded. “Very well, sir.” Without another word, he walked off...but turned around to glare murderously at Aquila.

 

“Assuming you four aren’t actually guilty of anything, I’d like to apologize on his behalf. Iago comes from a rather poor background and those living in his corner of Vale have frequently had...conflicts, with the local Faunus population. I’m aware that that does not in any way excuse his behavior.”

 

The four of them were silently staring at this man- Regina in particular seemed to be taking him in like some confusing puzzle box, before the silence was broken by Argent. “You’re Professor Ozpin, aren’t you? The Headmaster?”

 

He nodded and smiled warmly. “I am. If you’d follow me, I’d like you to explain exactly how this came about. I’d rather save any questions for when we arrive, to prevent potential eavesdropping. Understood?”

 

They all nodded, though Aquila was more than a little suspicious. From what Qrow had said, Ozpin was a reasonable if aloof kind of fellow. Why would he hire someone like this Iago?

 

"His Aura is...odd," said Regina to Aquila as they walked. " _Really_ odd."

 

"How so?" Asked Aquila curiously.

 

"It's Green...but the tinges are silver. Something's weird about his Semblance too. I can't really place it, and I can't read his feelings like I can most people."

 

After about fifteen more minutes of walking and one awkward elevator ride, they finally made their way to Ozpin’s office at the top of Beacon’s central tower. He offered them seats, and pulled over a stool to accommodate Aquila. She was too nervous to explain that she could retract her wings and fit comfortably in most chairs, and just took the seat.

 

“So,” he said, taking a seat at his wing-backed chair, “Why don’t you explain from the beginning?”

 

The four of them took turns explaining the general details of their arrival and beacon and the discovery of the Grimm at the practice field. He raised an eyebrow curiously at that, but didn’t seem to be skeptical of the story even as they recounted how they defeated the Grimm by themselves. In the process, Victor explained how he had found the others- he had been wandering around campus alone, and saw Aquila slay the two Nevermore mid-air, then came rushing over in astonishment.

 

“Yes, I would be quite astonished as well,” he said once the story had finished, “If I hadn’t been able to pull up the security logs of it all just here.” He pulled out his Scroll, which was displaying the recent fight.

 

“It does indeed seem that these Grimm had been released by some computer error beforehand." He pulled up footage of some mechanical apertures in the training field opening up and releasing the Grimm they fought, not long before Aquila led the other two there.  
  
  
"That looks...concerning, for a computer glitch." Argent noted, grimacing.

  
  
"It is, and I'm going to have it looked into. But that's not really what I wanted to talk with you all about. You all fought extraordinarily well,” he said. When he noticed Regina about to speak, he raised a hand, “Don’t, Miss Adder. You fought admirably well for any student, let alone for someone on your first day. Don’t feel embarrassed that your companions did so well- only feel proud that you held your own.”

 

She smiled shyly at that and blushed, and Aquila couldn’t help but smile at that. She was _adorable_ when she was blushing…

 

“But,” Ozpin said, disrupting her infatuated thoughts, “I’m not terribly surprised that the three of you are so well-versed in combat already given your backgrounds.”

 

Aquila froze up at that, and a cold sweat began to form. She could see that Victor was reacting similarly, clutching the chair and white-knuckling in evident fear, and Argent- though calmer than the two of them- was shifting uncomfortably in his chair. Regina just looked puzzled, and seemed about to open her mouth again.

 

Ozpin raised a hand placatingly. “I’m not here to question any of you. Nothing in your backgrounds will be held against you here- in your case Ms. Pernigra, that arrangement was already made, as you know, with some support from Mr. Branwen and the Vale Council. As for you, Mr. Vombatus...from what I understand the Mistral Council acquitted you _in absentia_ ...or rather, acquitted you _post mortem_. You’re quite spry for someone who’s died, I must admit.”

 

Victor rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Ehhh...reports of my dying were greatly exaggerated.”

“Quite,” said Ozpin with a hint of amusement, “But then, nothing in this ruling says it should be rendered void if you turned up alive. Now the SDC might want to file some sort of lawsuit against you in the future, but that’s neither here nor there.”

 

Victor rolled his eyes at that but said nothing.

 

“As for you, Mr. Remus,” Ozpin said, his voice a bit more cool now, “You are, in every legal sense of the word, totally guilt-free. Though it is interesting just how _many_ reports there are where you are listed as a suspect, even a _primary_ suspect, yet anomalously have never had one iota of evidence brought against you for what looks like the longest string of thefts ever committed by any Faunus in Vale history- let alone by a minor.”

 

“It’s a fascinating run of bad luck, isn’t it?” Argent said, grinning cheekily.

 

“Luck...or a very impressive knack for being where the evidence is not,” Ozpin said, a bemused smile on his lips, “At any rate, your combat record from Signal was superb- Professor Oobleck has written what looks to be a rather lengthy novella on the degree to which he is impressed with your performance, and Bartholomew is one of the strictest graders I’ve ever known.”

 

Argent actually seemed taken aback at that. “Really? He was always so critical of my performance…”

 

“I suspect, Mr. Remus, that this was down more to a matter of _character_ than _performance._ But I am not here to judge, and will simply remind you that theft is _not_ tolerated at Beacon. Understand?”

 

Argent seemed to actually consider the question for a moment, then nodded sadly. “Yes, Headmaster.”

 

He then turned his attention to Regina again. “Don’t think I’m neglecting you here, Ms. Adder. Like I said, there’s nothing in your background to merit suspicion. In fact I’m quite impressed at your test scores- not many people from inside the Kingdoms have quite your level of combat skill without formal training.”

 

“I...learned some tricks on the street.” She was looking as sheepish as the others now.

 

“Very impressive ones. You’ve got a real knack with dust. I have a good sense that you’ll be the Mage for whatever team you end up in...though I think the four of you might have a good idea who it’ll be.”

 

The four Faunus looked at each other, then at Ozpin. Aquila spoke first. “But Headmaster, Glynda said the process is randomized?”

 

He nodded. “Oh, it is...to a degree. Let’s just say I’ve set it up with room for leeway. Tomorrow the four of you will be given the same experience as your classmates...just be prepared to see each other again when you land, so to speak.”

 

“Okaaaaaaay,” said Aquila, a bit confused, “If you think we’d make such a good team then why make us do it at all?”

 

“For one thing, the process is in part a deliberate team-building exercise. For another, I’m not really permitted to bend my own rules for any students- and you four are a rare exception to my belief that team-forming should be left to chance.”

 

“Are all-Faunus teams common at Beacon?” Regina asked, sounding curious.

 

“No. Most teams have either only one Faunus member, or none at all. I’ve rarely ever seen a fully-Faunus team in all my time as Headmaster. You four would only be the fourth such team to ever enter Beacon.”

 

“Well that’s no big surprise,” said Aquila, her tone venomous, “With Vale’s own general treatment of the Faunus.”

 

Ozpin looked at her...and nodded, sadly. “I cannot argue with that. I try my best to make Beacon a more inclusive place than the rest of Vale but...I cannot choose _all_ my faculty. Yes, Professor Iago is a deeply bigoted man, and he is one of the many teachers the Council appointed rather than me. They don’t trust me to choose them all myself- I’ve long been under a great deal of scrutiny over allegations of monopolizing control over Beacon beyond what is appropriate for my job.”

 

Victor spoke up. “I’m not gonna dispute that you’re doing your best. I just want to know uh...are we going to get lunch at some point? I’m kinda peckish.”

 

Ozpin smiled warmly at him. “Yes, Mr. Vombatus. Once the introductory speech is wrapped up, you’ll all get a chance to eat at the dining hall. Speaking of which, I believe it’s time for us to go.”

 

He pointed to the clock, and indeed it was nearly fifteen minutes past the time when the speech was supposed to begin. “I’m going to head down now. You four should do the same- and feel free to stick together.” He stood up, and headed to the door. The four Faunus followed him, and they took the elevator down. Ozpin got off at the floor just above the main hall and bid them goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I was not expecting the amount of hits I DID get for chapter one. I hope you guys appreciate Chapter 2 coming out so soon, I had a blast writing it! I love doing action scenes, so lemme know if they get a bit too long or drawn out.
> 
> Also, since you've seen them all in action, lemme give you the names and forms of Team AVRA's weapons 
> 
> Aquila- Jackdaw. Modes: Twin Flintlock Pistols, Twin Cutlasses, and Harpoon Gun.  
> Victor- Greeter. Modes: Shotgun and Chainsaw.  
> Regina- Venom. Modes: Revolver and Dagger.  
> Argent- Silver Wind. Modes: Katana, Pistol and Scabbard. It didn't come up here, but the Scabbard has a ranged attack a bit like Roman's- Argent combines it with his Katana to pull off deadly Iaijutsu strikes.
> 
> Also, the shorthand names for Argent and Regina's Semblances are Intangibility and Aura Vision. The capabilities are mostly as you saw here; however Argent's is a bit more complicated than regular intangibility so as to explain why he doesn't fall through floor or suffocate or turn invisible. In essence, he (And the objects he considers a part of himself like Silver Wind) only become intangible to select other objects, usually walls he's trying to pass through, or enemies he's trying to dodge.
> 
> I'm going on vacation soon so I probably won't have chapter 3 up before June 20th. If I do, it'll likely be in the next few days if I manage to write it as fast as I did this one. Wish me luck!
> 
> EDIT: P.S. I know I told some of you who each member of AVRA is based off of, but I'd LOVE to see the rest of you guess, and maybe try and figure out who the other OCs are based off of. :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Freshman class at Beacon is given a speech by Ozpin, and sent into the Emerald Forest. Aquila's team is finally formed, and they meet some new friends along the way.

The four students rode the rest of the sort elevator ride in silence, mostly just shuffling around awkwardly. When it finally opened there was a brief nervous pause before they headed out, and made their way into the hall as a group. Already the place had been filled with other students who were jabbering anxiously as they waited for Ozpin to finally show up and make his introductory speech. The four of them anxiously took seats and exchanged glances, with Aquila and Regina sharing a rather long, meaningful one.

 

    Victor broke the silence with a hushed but furtive whisper. “So are we going to talk about what a _ridiculous_ coincidence that we’re all criminals or what?” 

 

    The other three simultaneously shushed him, and Argent in particular nervously looked at the other students around them- none of whom seemed to take any interest in what they had to say. Calming down a bit, Regina spoke up.

 

    “Look, Victor’s not wrong though. It’s kind of ridiculous. I mean what did the rest of you even _do_ before coming here? We’re all actually 17, right?”

 

    Aquila nodded. “Yeah...I might’ve been uh...a pirate.”

 

    The other girl’s eyes went wide, then narrowed. “Oh. You mean like you illegally downloaded stuff?”

 

    Aquila though shook her head. “Nope. Maritime grand larceny. I was officially _Hostis humani generis,_ Enemy to all Mankind.” She sighed, nostalgically. “Hard to believe it was only a year and a half, and it only ended about a month ago.” Thoughts ran through her head of raids on merchant ships owned by her corrupt and selfish parents, guarded by disgraced and mercenary Hunters and scores of Atlesian robots. Of the many times hostile Grimm showed up only for her and her fellows to slay them- then to demand a cut of the cargo of whoever they’d ended up saving. Most of all though she remembered the day a Sea Dragon Grimm had appeared, and that black-haired huntsman with the scythe had shown up.

 

The others had varying expressions; Victor was nodding sympathetically for some reason, Argent seemed to be utterly bemused at her candor, and Regina’s jaw dropped as though she couldn’t decide whether to be awed or slightly horrified.

 

“We didn’t kill people,” Aquila clarified, while noting that the din of the audience hall was thankfully largely muting out the conversation, “Oh and to be clear, I’m in the same boat as Victor- legally speaking I’m fine, since I did get an official pardon for the whole thing...as long as I’m here, anyway.”

 

“So you can’t leave Beacon?” Regina asked, sounding concerned.

 

She shook her head. “Not if I want to stay out of a specialized kind of detention center for Semblance-wielding crooks. Anyway, enough about me- Victor, what in Hell did _you_ get up to that caused such a stink over in Mistral?”

 

He smiled, but his eyes didn’t match it; they looked utterly haunted. “I don’t want to talk about it. Not yet. People died, is all I can say.”

 

There was an awkward silence between them, which Argent finally broke. “So, you’re all accepting that I’m technically not a criminal at all, right?”

 

Aquila and Victor looked at him, skeptical and annoyed.

 

“Okay so maybe you aren’t. Point is, I steal stuff, and I do it well. I won’t get into who, what, or how...but it’s a lot. So much that my family used to be dirt poor, but after I unlocked my Semblance...well now we’re living it up in the northwest peninsula, is what I can say.”

 

Aquila was certainly impressed; her own family had only gotten to live there after her parents’ company had really gotten off, not long before she was born. Argent must’ve been a damned good thief- then again with his Semblance it wasn’t much of a surprise. His skill in combat was the bigger mystery, but then if he’d really gone to Signal she supposed he could’ve just taken well to combat training. 

 

Regina shifted a bit in her seat. “I uh...I used to con people. On the street, I mean...I had a bit of a hustle going.”

 

Aquila looked at her now, a bit amused that this pretty little thing was apparently a con artist. “And what kind of cons did you used to run?”

 

“Nothing big,” Regina said nervously, her violet eyes meeting Aquila’s, “Just some confidence games, some fraud, some larceny by deception, a few snake oil sails...no pun intended.”

 

“That’s good work if you can get it,” Victor noted dryly, “But what made you come here?”

 

Now Regina looked _very_ uncomfortable. “I wanted to make a new start. I had the basics I needed, so I saved up for some training with a Huntress and got good enough to pass the entrance exam. Dust was a big sticking point, and I’d gotten used to using it...selling some low-grade dust on the street...that kind of thing.”

 

Victor patted her shoulder sympathetically. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. Comes with being a Faunus in a Human’s world.”

 

She looked at him and smiled sadly, but said nothing. 

    Finally, Ozpin appeared on the stage, and stepped up to the podium.

 

    “Ordinarily I like to keep my entrance speeches brief,” Ozpin said, adjusting his glasses, “But recent events have convinced me that today should be different, so I spent some last-minute time getting a new speech ready. You have traveled to this place in search of knowledge- you think that this will free you from the burden of your lives, perhaps help you find a better future. I will tell you that this is only partly true; past regrets cannot simply be erased by taking up a new path. The road of the Huntsman is long, difficult, and dangerous, and not for the timid of hard- it’s a difficult path for anyone to take. The creation of a true Huntsman or Huntress comes from the destruction of the old, and this is an arduous process. Many of you will _never_ truly be Huntsman or Huntresses...but do not let that discourage you. For today you have already taken the first and most difficult step; you have made the choice to _try_.”

 

    He paused for a moment, then continued. “Something though that is often forgotten is that simply trying isn’t enough. Many have said to me that some people are simply not fit to be Huntsmen; they are too weak in body, too feeble in mind, too cowardly in spirit. There’s some truth to this, yes; some people are ultimately not strong enough for this life, and there is no shame in that. But that does not mean that it is an easy task to tell who is worthy and who is not; the greatest Huntsmen and Huntresses have come from the strangest and most difficult of backgrounds, and many of those who face the most adversity are those who face the most opposition in being allowed to attend our school. I will not mince words; many of you, some of my own staff included, do not believe that _certain people_ should be allowed to attend Beacon.”

    A quiet murmur had started to build, but Ozpin was undeterred. “I have heard arguments that women should not be allowed to attend, out of claims of their physical weakness. I have been told those attracted to their own gender should not be allowed to attend, out of some belief that they are morally corrupt. I have been told that those not born in Vale should not be allowed to attend, out of some inherent supremacy of those born in this region of Sanus. And most commonly, I have been told that only _Humans_ should be allowed to attend this school. Yet I have seen Huntresses stronger than most Huntsman I’ve ever met, I have seen queer Huntsman whose courage and character were impeccable, I have seen foreign Huntsmen whose loyalty to Vale and its people were utterly unshakable, and oh yes, I have seen Faunus Huntsmen who were some of the greatest in this school’s history.”

 

    Now the murmur had turned to stunned silence at his candor, and Aquila felt a newfound admiration for this man she had previously dismissed. Yet there was no pride in his expression, and his tone was not self-satisfied as she’d heard so many Humans sound when defending the Faunus. He sounded _furious_ at those who had questioned all that he had just laid out. 

 

    “To those of you who are yourselves among the groups I have just listed, know that I believe you are as worthy to be here as anyone else- more worthy even than some. And to those of you who would question what I have just said, or who think there is some rebuttal to be made, I only have this to say; do not even try. You in particular have the longest and hardest road to walk to be worthy of being a Huntsman. If you succeed, you will likely end up so much richer for having overcome that weakness than those fortunate enough to avoid it. If you fail, then you will not be welcome here in the future- and every accomplishment you have will be tainted by your failure to accept your fellow man as a living being and not some lifeless object worthy only of your scorn.”

 

    “Tomorrow all of you will be grouped into teams. These teams are kept random for a few reasons; to prevent friends and family from simply grouping together out of a misguided belief that this will improve cohesion, to encourage you to pair with those you otherwise might not, but most of all; to force those of you from different worlds to see each other as equals. For some of you this is unfair, and that is why the process is not _entirely_ random. But for some of you, it is very deliberate, so that you might _learn_ something you can never learn in class; respect. I thank you all for coming.”

 

    He adjusted his glasses again, and walked away from the podium without another word. Glynda Goodwitch stepped up, and explained that they were to organize in the dining hall after sundown and sleep there that night, so that tomorrow they could be grouped into teams. She then departed without another word, and the soon-to-be students all got up and dispersed. The four Faunus who had met just that day awkwardly shuffled out, feeling deeply unsure of where to go.

 

    Unfortunately, it looked like they hadn’t made their way out fast enough. Aquila winced when she heard an unfortunately familiar voice shriek as she saw them.

 

    “You,” said the girl from the airship- Mauve was her name. “You’re a _Faunus_!” She was pointing at Aquila’s wings.

 

    Aquila winced. _Crap. I forgot my longcoat back at that field. I need to get it back…_

 

    “Yeah, she is,” said Victor, standing in between Aquila and the purple-eyed girl, “And so are the rest of us. You got a problem with that?”

 

    The girl looked at Victor, hate in her eyes. By her side were some more Humans; a tall, beefy, red-haired boy with a sword at his side, and a lean and hungry-looking boy with dark purple hair and a face so punchable it defied belief.  All three of them were dressed very finely in silks and furs, the girl in particular dressed like an Empress. The girl was clutching at the enormous hunk of steel in the shape of a sword at her back, but seemed to forcibly calm herself down and restrain herself.

 

    “Yes, I do. Ozpin might be Headmaster here, but that doesn’t give him the right to insult people just for what they _believe_ . People like _you_ make life _Hell_ for us Humans! You accuse us of all the worst things, and it’s all lies! We don’t lie and cheat and steal Faunus- you do that yourselves!”

 

    “Come on, cousin,” another voice said, stepping up. “Can we just move on?” It belonged to a handsome young woman dressed far more casually than the others; comfortable looking yet very flattering blue jeans, a black leather jacket, and a simple metal necklace with a single sapphire in it to complement her beautiful blue eyes. She had lovely dark skin, nearly as dark as Regina’s, and her dark brown hair was worn very short.

 

    “No, Jean,” said Mauve firmly, “This is about _respect_.”

 

    The girl- Jean- rolled her eyes. “Mauve come on, these guys aren’t worth our time?”

 

    “I agree,” said the purple haired boy disdainfully, “I think we should just move on to something more interesting than some random pack of animals.”

 

    The other boy seemed to shift uncomfortably, but then stood straighter. “Augustus, I think what we _should_ do is have a little match to settle this. Some other day.”

 

    The other three humans looked at the redhead curiously, as did the four Faunus. He shrugged. “Look it’s just that clearly, Mauve wishes to settle her score with this one in particular,” he said, pointing to Aquila, “And we should wait until we have proper teams to settle it.”

 

    Mauve snorted. “Gah. I’m probably going to end up with some ingrates...or worse, more _animals._ ”

 

    Jean seemed ready to slap her cousin at this point, and Aquila couldn’t blame her; she was astonished she wasn’t angrier. Perhaps it was the brazen way these Humans were bandying about slurs; it felt more surreal than insulting. All the same, she could see the anger boiling over on Regina’s face and Victor quietly reaching for Greeter. Even Argent had lost his usual smug smile for a cold, indifferent frown. 

 

    “Why do you even have an issue with me?” Aquila finally asked. “What did I even _do_?”

 

    Mauve snorted. “Oh, what did you do? I didn’t recognize your face at first, but I know your _wings_ ! You’re Aquila _Pernigra._ Your family, your family of disgusting upstarts _ruined_ my family’s trading business! My parents may be content to live off the lien they got from selling off my grandfather’s respected Caravan Corporation to your parents’ Trans-Sanus Shipping, but _I_ am not going to take such a humiliation lying down!”

 

    Aquila narrowed her eyes imperceptibly. “My family’s all-but disowned me for what I’ve done. You think you’re going to win back your family honor by beating me or something? When what my family did had _nothing_ to do with combat?”

 

    “Human honor is far more complicated than you could _possibly_ understand, you insulting little pleb. A slight need not be met with vengeance of equal kind; only equal quantity. Your humiliation and defeat would be a good first step in repaying the debt your family now owes mine!”

    The aquiline Faunus just rolled her eyes at that. “Don’t be ridiculous. Besides, for all we know we could end up on the same team.” She was pretty sure Ozpin wasn’t going to let _that_ happen...but it was an amusing insult all the same.

 

    The Human was clearly infuriated, but too disgusted at the notion to offer a retort. Instead, she simply spun on her heel and stormed off. The purple-haired boy followed her, taking the red-haired one by the hand as he did so. The other girl, Jean, waved back at them apologetically as she followed her cousin.

 

    “Well that was...something,” said Victor, “I really hope I don’t end up on a team with any of them.”

 

    “Tell me about it.” Said Regina, examining Venom a bit maliciously. “I’m really hoping we _do_ end up as a team. I think we’d make a good one.”

 

    Aquila smiled back at her. “Well, here’s hoping. Now come on, let’s try and find some way to kill time before bed.”

 

    The rest of that day passed uneventfully, and they managed to get sleep on the hardwood floor without incident that night. In the morning, all four of them dressed and armed themselves, before heading off to Beacon cliff. There, they were organized and told to stand on metal platforms that didn’t seem like much. To Aquila though, it seemed pretty obvious they were springboards; why else would they be standing next to a cliff?

 

Greeting the hundred or so students there were Ozpin and his assistant Glynda, who instructed the students to avoid standing next to anyone they were especially close to. As he did so, Aquila noticed Ozpin fiddling with his Scroll, and taking note of who was standing where. When they had all been placed, he began his introductory speech.

 

“Students, for years all of you have trained, one way or another,” he noted, looking at Aquila in particular as he said that, “To be warriors. Today, your abilities will be put to their proper test in the Emerald Forest.”

 

Then, Glynda spoke up. “I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Allow me to put an end to your confusion; Each of you will be given teammates _today_.”

 

Then, Ozpin continued. “This will be an important factor in the next four years of your time at Beacon; whoever you are grouped with will be as close to you as family for the next four years. That being said, your partner will be the first person you make eye contact with.”

 

Someone- a boy with white hair dressed in seasonally-inappropriate parka and cargo pants- raised his hand. 

    Ozpin- seemingly somewhat begrudgingly- nodded. “Yes, Mr. Frost?”

 

    “Well,” he spoke in a rather squeaky, high-pitched voice, “If we meet someone we don’t like, can’t we just decide not to team with them and walk away?”

 

    Ozpin looked at him _very_ seriously. “ **We will know if you are lying, Mr. Frost.** ” 

 

    The boy went white- well, white- _er_ \- with terror, and said nothing else.

 

    “Any other questions? None? Good. Once you’ve found your partner, proceed north. You will meet dangerous opposition- Grimm, mostly- along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you _will_ die.”

 

    Well that didn’t come as a surprise. Aquila wondered though how this must’ve been for those students who _hadn’t_ been in life-or-death combat before. Argent must’ve been shaking in his boots…

 

    “Those of you who are more experienced in combat, rest assured that the Emerald Forest is no joke. The Grimm there are older and tougher than most you may have run into before. This will be a serious test of your abilities, no matter how skilled or _fortunate_ you may be.”

 

    He continued. “You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately.”

 

    Aquila pondered just how terrifying this likely was for those without wings. She also wondered if Ozpin was going to do anything about her obvious advantage here, but he didn’t seem to do anything as he pressed the button and the students began to be sent flying into the forest. She heard a few screams of terror, some yodeling of excitement as it went down the line towards her position.

 

    “Oh and one more thing, Ms. Pernigra,” Ozpin said, sipping from his hot cocoa, “If you use your wings to help in your landing, even reflexively, you _will_ be disqualified.”

 

    She cocked her head at him. “Well, it was nice knowing you Professor.”

 

    He smiled and inclined his head. “And nice knowing you as well, Ms. Pernigra. I have a feeling you’ll manage just fine.”

 

    She didn’t feel quite as confident, but she also didn’t have much of a choice- and before she knew it, she was airborne. Fighting the urge to extend her wings (and destroy her longcoat in the process- she was suddenly _glad_ at Ozpin’s little provision) Aquila pulled out Jackdaw and set it to harpoon mode. Taking aim at a particular spot on the treetops as she descended at an angle more horizontal than vertical to herself, she fired and pulled on the thing, arresting her downward momentum and converting it to forward momentum. Something about this didn’t mesh with what she’d learned in physics class in school, but she wasn’t one to question things _now_. Using the shift in momentum, Aquila swung around the tree, allowing the growing tension of the cord to slow her down more and more until she was all-but stationary, and finally disconnected the harpoon from Jackdaw, and allowed herself to fall. She hit the ground rolling and aimed for a pile of leaves, nicely absorbing the fall impact.

   

    Aquila stood up and brushed herself off before taking stock of her surroundings; forest, as expected. No sign of Grimm, just a few birds and other forest animals wandering about doing their thing. She switched Jackdaw to dual pistol mode, and started stalking around. She’d need to keep her wits about her, to see what she might run into. She prayed to whatever gods would listen that she didn’t run into Mauve or someone like her first…

 

    She heard a twig snap. Either a beast, Grimm, or another person. If the latter, this was her partner for the next four years. If either of the former, she needed to move quickly, to defend herself. Aquila took a deep breath. Cautiously, she spun around and pointed her pistols at what was behind her-

 

    And it was Argent. He was striding up to her casually, cane in hand, and looking a bit embarrassed at having been caught.

    “Well,” said Aquila, smiling- perhaps more ruefully than she’d meant to, “I guess we’re stuck together now, thief.”

 

    The wolf-Faunus chuckled, his tail flicking gently behind him. “I suppose so. Well, want to see if we can find the others?”

 

    “Yeah, we should _probably_ get on that. I’m a bit concerned for Regina; she seemed like she was having trouble with the Grimm back on the practice field. Come on, let’s try heading north first.”

 

    Argent seemed to agree, and he followed along as they walked to the left of the recently-risen sun. For a while the two moved along silently, but Argent eventually spoke up.

 

    “Can’t you fly ahead and scout for any unusual sites or points of interest? It’d be a big help.”

 

    “No. Ozpin said I can’t use my wings for the trial; I think he just meant for the landing, but I’d rather spite him a bit.”

 

 

    Argent quirked his head at Aquila. “You’re a bit of a resentful creature, aren’t you?”

 

    She frowned, then nodded. “I suppose I am, aren’t I? He hasn’t really wronged me, in fact all things considered I suppose he’s been rather generous. I just have very little patience for people who try to tell me what to do, I suppose.”

 

    At that, the thief laughed. “Well I’m not one to disagree _there_. At any rate, we should probably get moving.”

 

    And so the two former criminals made their way through the forest in a semi-companionable silence, until they finally came upon an obstacle in their path. Somehow, two trees had been felled in just such a way that the road was blocked off- and Aquila could tell that they hadn’t been cut down by some coincidence or by the rampaging of some Grimm, oh no. This was a very calculated act indeed. It looked like they had been chipped through with some smaller knife to her, but very quickly. 

 

    The wolf Faunus seemed to come to the same conclusion. “One of our classmates has been through here already. Do you think we should do something?” 

 

    Before Aquila could respond, they both heard a rustling; out of the brush, a woman appeared brandishing a knife casually. She was dressed in a white dress with a wide skirt, but looked to be all business. Her hair was as chalky white as her dress, and around her belt she carried a ring of knives that looked to have some kind of mechanism built into them. She was stern, with piercing grey eyes and her hair cut boyishly short. She reminded Aquila of the eldest Schnee daughter, who she'd met once with her family on a business trip to Atlas. This one though had a different air about her; less rage and frustration hidden behind those eyes...something more troubled, Aquila suspected, was hiding back there.  
  
  
 "I don't suppose either of you have avoided looking into each other's eyes?" The white-haired girl asked as she looked between the two of them.  
  
  
Argent shook his head. "Sadly no, miss, though your beauty is such that I regret it being so."  


The girl just rolled her eyes at that, and looked at Aquila. "Good luck with this horn-dog. What're your names?"

 

"Aquila Pernigra, and Argent Remus." She replied. "And what's yours?"

 

The girl put her knife away. "Stark. Emily Stark. I suppose we can stick together until I find my partner, at least."

 

"Quite," said Argent, who then motioned with his cane to the tree that had been felled. "If I might ask first, why did you fell this old tree, though?"

 

"Oh, that?" Stark said, looking casually at the tree. "Oh, that's a leftover from an earlier fight. There was a Death Stalker, and well...there was a tree. Seemed the obvious solution to me."

 

Aquila was suitably impressed at that; the Scorpion-shaped Death Stalker was a very dangerous Grimm for a group, let alone an individual, to take down. Stark had shown considerable inventiveness and resolve in taking it down the way she did. If Argent was similarly impressed, he did not voice it. Instead the three of them walked further north in the general direction they had agreed the relics might be, all while Argent chattered about this and that. Aquila really wasn't interested and tried to filter it out, but Stark occasionally spoke up to say something or other. She took particular interest whenever Argent obliquely mentioned his criminal past- he really wasn't being terribly subtle about it.

 

Eventually they came onto a clearing, where a collection of items were lying on various pedestals. Upon closer inspection, they were a set of 24 statuettes; half black, the other white. Each was shaped like a different animal. Aquila felt herself drawn to the black rooster statuette, and decided to pick it up before Argent could take the white dog statue he'd been eyeing. To her mild surprise, Emily took that one instead.

 

"It speaks to me," she said upon noticing Aquila was eyeing her curiously, "I'm sure my partner, whoever they are, will understand."

 

As if in response, a boisterous yell came out of the woods; there like some mad boar came charging a man...no, a boy- his features were too youthful to be a teacher or older. Aquila's jaw dropped though at seeing how _large_ the fellow was; at least six and a half feet tall, and with an already-thick mass of blonde stubble around his face. His long blonde hair ran wildly behind him. Despite his height the man managed to be pretty chubby as well, and was clearly _very_ well-built in terms of muscle. At his back he carried a massive broadsword that was longer than Aquila was tall. He came barreling in and his gaze met Aquila's.

 

"Aha! My partner, good!" Before she could even react, he had charged her and embraced the girl in a bear hug. It was some of the most excruciating pain Aquila had ever experienced, but thankfully it was over fairly quickly when he put her back to the ground. She let out a wheeze, then took a breath before speaking.

 

"Actually..." She wheezed again, then regained composure, "He's my partner already." She pointed to Argent.

 

The young man turned to Argent, then furrowed his brow...and then turned to Stark, who was looking absolutely mortified at the implication.

 

"So YOU are my new partner, haha!" He then charged Stark, but she deftly dodged him and put a hand up to block him from trying a second time.

 

"Yes. I'm Emily Stark. Just Stark, to you. What's _your_ name?"

 

He frowned a bit; not anger but disappointment showing on his face. "Chime Falstaff, at your service!"

 

"...Right." Stark replied, as if the name simply added to her incredulity. "I don't know how you managed to avoid seeing anyone _else's_ eyes this whole time, but there you go. I already picked our relic." She said, holding up the dog statue.

 

He laughed boisterously again. "Magnificent! Oh I love a good pooch! Just like my old boy Hal back home, haha!" He gave Stark a _thunderous_ slap to the back which nearly had her doubling over.

 

Before the situation could get any more awkward, there was a shout and a pink blur shot by them to pick up the black dog. "I like this one quite a bit, don't you, Philly?" The blur in question had settled into the shape of a swarthy young man wearing a pink crop top, a black leather jacket, a pair of _very_ tight leather pants, and pink foam clogs. At his side he had a whip curled up tightly, and his hair...his hair was a bright pink (And Aquila wasn't entirely convinced he hadn't dyed it) buzzed into a fashionable undercut, with his long hair on top swept to one side and held in place with some high-grade conditioner. His bright pink eyes shone with glee looking at the statue, then at something behind the others. He hadn't seemed to notice them at all in his mad dash.

 

"Yes," a quiet, lilting voice behind Aquila and the others said, "I like dogs...black is a good color." Aquila turned to see that approaching the group was a _beautiful_ girl with warm brown skin and long, bright red hair, wearing an equally vibrant and rather tight-looking red dress. Her feet were bare and her toenails were painted red, as were her fingernails. All she carried with her was an opened messenger bag. Inside all Aquila could see were flowers- mostly red roses, but also rosemary, fennel, columbines, and other such flowers.

 

"Right then Philly, it looks like we're set! And hellooooo to the rest of you!" The pink-haired boy said joyously as he saw the others. "Glad to see we weren't the first to get here, would've been rather lonely just Philly and me, eh?"

 

'Philly' approached the group and took a second to look Aquila in the eyes; there was a deep sadness there that the Faunus girl could barely imagine, hidden behind those blood-red irises. But then she passed by, and stood next to the pink-haired boy who was proudly strutting around with his relic.

 

"All you lads and gents, I'm Tinsel Mercury! And this radiant young maiden right here is Philia Rose, my dear new partner!"

 

Stark took a look at the dog statue she'd picked up, and then at the one Tinsel was holding...and seemed to heave as she sighed. "So it would indeed seem. I'm Emily Stark, this is Chime Falstaff."

 

 "Brilliant! Let's get going, then, back to the...uh, where ARE we supposed to go, anyway?"

 

Aquila shrugged. "I'm pretty sure that we're just going to get picked up after a while? There's not really a good way back to Beacon from here, anyway. Not unless you can fly, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only one here with wings. Not that I'm allowed to use them."

 

At that, everyone except Argent stared at her, and she remembered that her wings weren't exactly visible right now.

 

"You're...a Faunus?" Was Stark's first response, and it rankled Aquila.

 

"Yes, I _am_. Is that going to be a problem, Stark?"

 

"Not in the slightest. I'm part-Faunus myself, though you wouldn't know it from looking at me. I'm just impressed you've got something as rare as wings."

 

Tinsel- Aquila _really_ wanted to know what his parents had been thinking naming him _that_ \- hopped on down and sped over to Aquila. "Oh please yes, let's see! I bet they're _beautiful!_ "

 

She sighed, looking to her fellow Faunus for support- but Argent was looking away and whistling nonchalantly. With some reluctance, she lowered her longcoat and unfurled her black-feathered wings. The two men- particularly Tinsel- seemed to ooh and ahh over it. The girls just stood there curiously, looking at her with stoicism and an odd kind of curiosity, from Stark and Philia respectively. Feeling like an animal on display, Aquila withdrew her wings and put her longcoat back on.

 

"So do they uh, work?" asked Chime more than a bit awkwardly.

 

" _Yes,_ they _work_." Aquila shot back, venomously. She really wanted to beat this oversized human for how he'd been staring at her, and the pink-haired boy had been little better in the whole thing.

 

He raised his hands defensively and backed away, and Aquila was surprised. Despite his size and his initial bluster, she could see he had a rather sensitive heart under all that. "I'm sorry, I suppose being examined like a new pet is uh...really bad."

 

"Yeah. I'd rather you avoided doing that sort of thing. Ever." the Faunus girl shot him a fiery glare with her golden eyes, but behind it she was a little pleasantly surprised that he'd recognized his mistake so quickly.

 

"Aquila! Argent!" A familiar voice called out behind them, and Aquila was pleased to see that it was Regina and Victor, who had clearly become partners. Victor was happily lugging Greeter in chainsaw mode at his side, while Regina ran on ahead and gave Aquila a quick hug. She felt her heart flutter briefly as Regina buried her head in the taller girl's chest.

 

"I'm glad to see you!" Regina said, as she pulled away when the hug was done. "Victor and I had a lot of trouble in getting here. We landed _way_ south of this place."

 

The wombat-eared boy walked on ahead and apparently without thinking much of it, picked up the white rooster. Aquila smiled, looking at the black rooster statue in her hand. Deciding it'd be better to surprise them, she stashed it back in one of her longcoat pockets for later.

 

"Argent and I didn't even run into any Grimm, we got way lucky." Aquila noted, smiling at the purple-eyed girl. Gods above was she beautiful...no, bad Aquila! Not the time to get lost in a cute girl's eyes!

 

"That's good," Regina said, hopefully oblivious to the way the other girl had been staring at her just then, "So...now what?"

 

"I suspect," said Victor, finally speaking up after putting the white rooster statue in his coat pocket, "That we're to go ahead further north to the edge of the forest. That or they'll just send airships to pick us up. Ozpin _said_ they'd be monitoring us."

 

"That...makes sense," Aquila noted, "So I guess we just wait here until they show up."

 

For a few minutes they all sat there, with the Faunus and Humans gathering into one big group and chatting amongst themselves. She learned a bit more detail about everyone- Stark was from Mantle in Solitas and tight-lipped about her family, Chime was the youngest and strongest son of some other former noble family in Vale, Tinsel was from Vacuo, Argent's family evidently had no clue that he was a thief. Regina, Victor, and Philia were all quite a bit more tight-lipped, as was Aquila herself. 

 

Idly, she saw Philia wander off from the group, and decided to follow her. The girl seemed a bit off, like she was constantly dissociating- Aquila had experienced that once or twice, and didn't want the girl to get attacked by Grimm or some wild animal if she was. The girl seemed to be drawn to an odd monolith not far off from the ruins; it was pitch-black, and slightly rounded. Aquila did NOT get a good feeling about it...

 

Then, to her surprise, Philia drew one of the roses out from her bag and threw it at the monolith- and it rapidly EXPLODED into a mass of thorny vines that enveloped the thing, and started to squeeze down on it. Instead of breaking or cracking as Aquila had expected it to, it simply compressed like it was made of rubber...and then pushed _back_ against the vines. The earth all around them started to shake, and reflexively Aquila grabbed Philia and- consequences be damned- doffed her coat, extended her wings and grabbed Philia. To her surprise the girl was entirely cooperative and even quickly spun around to wrap her arms around Aquila's neck to give herself extra support. Aquila flew into the air- and from her vantage point saw with horror what was going on. All around that space earth was cracking and crumbling, and that monolith she had seen was, in fact, a single finger on an enormous pitch-black hand. The earth all crumbled away as the massive appendage burst out of the ground- along with the arm it was attached to. Elsewhere she could see other bits of earth falling away as the ground cracked and crumbled and a torso, two legs...and a white-masked head all burst out of the ground.

 

It was a Grimm. A Grimm bigger than any she'd ever seen, bigger than most buildings in her hometown had been. Thinking back, she'd heard of these before- Colossi. They were extremely rare, and usually spent their time dormant. Small groups of humans rarely were able to stir them from their slumber, and ordinarily it took a large group passing over them to wake them up. Finding that a colossus was under the building site for a village was a rare-but-fatal occurrence for those living outside the kingdoms. '

 

And it was standing up.

   
   


 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took so long! I was interrupted by a long-ass vacation with my family and then by just being plain out of it for like a week. Here she is though! I hope you liked Ozpin's speech; I really wanted to keep his canon personality as best I can. In between this being initially drafted and now After the Fall came out and clarified the timeline a bit, but I think Ozpin would still have an ageless air around him regardless of being fairly young (For obvious reasons...)
> 
> Also yes, the new people are going to be rather important going forward.
> 
> I think from here on out I'm going to keep the chapter's shorter, so as to make the updates come quicker and not to stress myself out so much over these.


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